Haas family's golf center to replace The Eagle Zone driving range

A group of investors led by the great Haas golfing family is making a $2 million investment in Greenville's golf scene.

Greenville residents Jay Haas and his older son, Jay Jr., announced Monday afternoon they are among a group of seven who have purchased The Eagle Zone driving range at 8000 Pelham Road in Greenville. Their vision, he said, is to transform it into a short-game facility "unlike anything else in the Southeast."

The investment group, doing business as the Haas Family Golf Center, closed on the deal Friday and plans to invest more than $250,000 for improvements at the facility, according to a statement. The Haas group paid $1.8 million for the 23.38-acre property, according to county records.

PGA pro Bill Haas, Jay Jr.'s younger brother, is also an investor in the project as are his brother-in-law Dillard Pruitt, who played on the PGA Tour, and current Eagle Zone manager John Gerring.

They plan to unveil a new name for The Eagle Zone in coming months and the "Haas" name will likely be part of it, Jay Haas said.

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PGA golfer Jay Haas and his son Jay Jr. announce that they and a group of investors have purchased the Eagle Zone driving range on Monday, June 18, 2018.(Photo: JOSH MORGAN/Staff)

The family has been coming to The Eagle Zone, previously known as Pelham Tees, for decades, Jay Haas said, and wants to develop a facility that is "more than just a place to hit golf balls." Jay Jr. will be joining The Eagle Zone's six instructors to provide one-on-one lessons.

"We hope to be here for many, many years to come," Jay Haas said Monday. "My son here is 37 years old, and probably 30 years ago we were out here hitting golf balls. I remember them hitting it over the awning out there."

Golfers will start to see improvements in the next couple of months, he said, and those will be completed by the time TopGolf opens its nearby golfing entertainment venue in mid 2019. TopGolf has broken ground on a 55,000-square-foot building at the Interstate 85/Pelham Road interchange about two miles east of The Eagle Zone.

The Eagle Zone facility had fallen onto hard times lately, with a putt-putt course and batting cages left unused for several years, said Sandy Halkett, a golfing instructor there. Jay Haas said he wants to give the facility some "TLC" and to focus on providing "proper instruction" to both junior and established golfers.

Greenville's Bill Haas remains an active member of the PGA Tour. He, his father, Jay Haas, and his brother, Jay Jr., have invested in a driving range on Pelham Road that they plan to update and put their family name on.(Photo: USA TODAY SPORTS)

"If that means a dedicated bay of giving them the bells and whistles of the shot tracker, the Flightscope, the Trackman — all these different electronic things now that golf has evolved into — I foresee that someday this would be a place where you would say, 'We have to go to Haas Golf, they have this,'" Jay Haas said. "That's our goal."

Visitors will see new mats, new balls and enhanced lighting. The facility will also retain its pro shop and club fitting and repair service. Renovations could also include displays of some of the golf memorabilia that Jay Haas and his sons have collected over the years, including gear from the Ryder and Presidential cups.

Halkett, an instructor at Eagle Zone for 14 years, said she learned this past weekend about the Haas family's interest in the driving range.

"They are hopefully going to turn us around and get us on a positive track." Halkett said, adding: "(Visitors) are going to see some big changes to the facility."

Jay Jr. said he can't even count how many students he has currently.

"I can't get enough of it," he said. "I don't know why. I like it so much."

The Haas announcement comes four months after TopGolf confirmed it would be opening its facility and two months after the next closest golf range, Shank's in Mauldin, announced it would be redeveloped as a residential subdivision.

Golfer Tim Fitzmorris, who was at Eagle Zone on Monday afternoon with his 6-year-old grandson, Aiden, said he loves the facility's location as well as its lighted range and double-deck pads, which are shaded on the lower level. He said he looks forward to seeing what improvements they have planned, adding it is helpful to have access to sand traps and to know how far the flag is.

"I don't want a lush place to practice," Fitzmorris said. "All we want to do is practice."

Halkett, who has about 80 students throughout the year and is running eight camps this summer, said the driving range is primarily a training center. If people dabbling in golf get a taste of it at TopGolf, she said, they can come to the Haas facility to get serious training.

"We know TopGolf is coming," Halkett said, "and we want to be ready."

TopGolf, she said, will likely have a very different kind of clientele day to day. But, she added, the new ownership at Eagle Zone would have happened regardless of TopGolf's entry to the market.

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Jay Haas Jr. eyes the ball while he and his father, PGA golfer Jay Haas, drive a few balls on the range at the Eagle Zone on Monday, June 18, 2018. The two are part of a group of investors who recently purchased the Greenville driving range.(Photo: JOSH MORGAN/Staff)

"If you want proper instruction and see your ball fly a complete distance, come on down two miles (from TopGolf)," she said. "We want to feed off that environment and get this sport back on the map."